STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF AMOS YEE

April 21, 2015

For Immediate Release

STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF AMOS YEE

We would like to express our deep disappointment over the recent arrest of Amos Yee.

Singapore is an advanced and prosperous nation. We boast a highly-educated, literate and resilient population. We should allow space for people to express diverse opinions, and, if offended, engage in robust and civilized debate, without turning to the police or other legal avenues when disagreements arise.

And yet, for uploading a YouTube video deemed offensive by some, 16-year-old Amos Yee has been charged with harassment, and with deliberately wounding religious feelings. For posting a rude drawing featuring two politicians, Yee is accused of distributing obscene material.

In his video, Yee makes comments that some deem offensive to the Christian community.

However, we would like to bring your attention to a petition, started by a Singaporean Christian. It says: “As ugly as Amos Yee’s words were, we forgive because Jesus loved us despite our own fallen spiritual state.”

In addition, Singapore is a signatory to the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC), in which children—those under the age of eighteen—require particular safeguards and protections. Article 3 of the convention emphasizes that “[i]n all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”.

In instances when a child has been accused of infringing the law, Article 40 states that the child has to “be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth”. There is a need to take into account “the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society”. We note that when Amos was arrested, he was handcuffed in front of his parents and grandparents, and was detained by the police for two days. The mainstream media also wrongly reported that his mother had made a police report against him when no such thing happened.

The convention further advocates alternative measures for dealing with such children, without resorting to judicial proceedings. These measures include “[a] variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster care; education and vocational training programmes and other alternatives to institutional care”; they should also be undertaken “in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offence”.

Singapore’s prosecution of Amos Yee goes against the spirit of the Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Yee’s opinions about the late Lee Kuan Yew—no matter how offensive to admirers of the former Prime Minister—should be viewed as opinions of an individual. A mature society is one in which people engage each other in rational discourse, not one which resorts to punitive action to silence those with opinions deemed disagreeable.

We call on the government to drop the charges against Amos Yee. Measures taken against Yee are disproportionate and heavy-handed and violate the fundamental principles enshrined in the UN convention Singapore has signed. They do nothing to help Singapore evolve as a country. Instead of fostering tolerance, they encourage the policing of thought and speech. If we truly aspire to live up to the democratic ideals of our pledge, we need to find more progressive, compassionate ways of dealing with differences in opinion.

This guy insulted Christianity. It is in our law to punish people who do this to protect social/ religious harmony, so let the law take its course. There might be one or a few who doesn’t mind what he said, but there are also others who feel offended and want action to be taken so as not to set precedent.

Certainly during the last 120 years where news is widely read and known, Christians have been at the forefront of campaigns and activities against all forms of injustice and actively involved it in all sorts of ways including feeding the poor and starving, taking care of the sick and dying, rescuing the helpless, caring for families of left in terrible circumstances by the imprisonment of breadwinners….(just or unjust), or killed in various ways, visiting prisoners, the persecuted etc etc. Their Christian faith compels them to. Sure, there are a few *BAD SHEEP*(politically acceptable rather than *black sheep) * among them just like in all communities, faiths as well as ….YES in the Government. So, for this rather rash young man Amos Yee to speak about Christians in obscene terms & in his , cocky & arrogant style he proudly displays, the very ones who would show any compassion (if it came to the crunch) towards him and his cause, would be the Christians. He should be ashamed of himself. Given sufficient time, his brain and intelligence will develop and hopefully he will apologise for his childish and juvenile outburst to those of us he offended……..Christians ! In Saudi Arabia or Iran, he would have not have been allowed this outburst a second time ! It would have been literally………Off with his head ! Allen NZ

The irony is…In the final analysis, your God condemns Christianity. Why? Not for the good but yet, your good shuts the door to the promise land….

Matthew 23:13
13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so.

And for living in Sin…

Matthew 23:15
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one [a proselyte], you make him doubly as much a child of hell (Gehenna) as you are.

Even though Amos yee is 16, he held his beliefs strong, he did not submit and admit that his words were wrong because IMO, he is not. He did not back away or run away from his charges. He took it like a real man with a backbone when facing so much diversity. His own parents refused to bail or support him, half the population are cursing him, handcuffed and legcuffed to the courts, mass media shaming him, etc… Imagine, standing strong against all these at the age of 16.

I bet the many “adults” who scorned and verbally abused him or thinks he need conselling went back to their working desk at 8am bowing like a spineless dog to their bosses or clients just to survive the day or month.

9. We would state categorically that we – the Defence Counsel – disapprove of what Amos Yee has posted.

10. In relation to the specific duties we will undertake, we will be doing the following for Amos Yee –

(a) To advise him on the conditions on bail and to undertake a review of the bail and its conditions that have been imposed on him;
(b) To advise him on the procedural laws pertaining to the criminal justice system and the substantive laws pertaining to the 3 charges levied against him;
(c) To advise him on the most appropriate course of action – be it pleading guilty or claiming trial – bearing in mind that it is the right of the accused person to claim trial and have the prosecution prove its case;
(d) To advise him on the sentencing options including those that specifically deal with young offenders.

11. We will uphold the ideals set out herein through our conduct of the defence.

The right to “subject each others’ fundamental beliefs to criticism” is the bedrock of an open, diverse society, and the basis of promoting justice and liberties in such societies. Once we give up such a right we constrain our ability to challenge those in power, and therefore to challenge injustice.

The question we should ask ourselves, therefore, is not “should religious and cultural sensibilities ever limit free expression?” It is, rather, “should we ever allow religious and cultural sensibilities to limit our ability to challenge power and authority?”

That’s how you perpetuate RELGIOUS DEATH on the masses and stay in power isn’t it? To commit injustice to maintain justice for all? Whose crack this came from that the people with open mouth swallow hook,line and sinker?

it is a fine line between being a public nuisance and having your freedom of speech…….

Think about it if Amos Yee goes unpunished and we allow such public discontent, everyone will come out and insult everyone’s religion, insult every politician in power and get away with it . Come on. we are a nation of 3 million native Singaporeans if every monkey wants to be an INDIAN CHIEF and thinks that his individual rights is more important than the collective rights of society then we will not have a Singapore in 20 years time. I am not Pro PAP but I think some public order should be in place and certain lines cannot be crossed.

I am a parent myself if this episode AMos yee gets away with it , what msg are we telling him?? You can get away with anything because we believe in human rights??? If he goes to Army he will insult his officer and thinks that he is above the law. Come on the army is based on regimentation be it whether we believe someone is capable to lead, then the whole institution will crumble. Everyone will just walk away from the duties and go CANTEEN break.

There was a time I USED to believe that opposition voices stood for something they believe strongly in making ordinary Singaporeans heard and our lives better but now I think they are just doing it for the limelight because it is just FASHIONABLE to be a REBEL. Everyone likes a story where a small boy beats a huge monster when the odds are so against him. Just like AMOS yee in this case against the bad evil PAP or government.

I am a patriot and I hope my country does well now and in the future. Votes are cast based on reason and what best for this country. For the record I have never voted for the PAP but the next GE I probably will because I feel the majority that supports the opposition just do it for the sake of being “cool” , non conformist bad boy. Grow up guys. Policies are there to make the lives of MAJORITY singaporeans better . You really cannot please everyone . For every policy there will definitely be some clown that will disagree and the people who agree . The people who disagree usually the hardcore anti PAP will disagree with every freaking policy from CPF to housing to national service , COE prices……I also dont know how they come up with so many disagreements.
So if the opposition get into power , we abolish national service? no more CPF? COE at 1 dollar.
The worst thing is these anti PAP guys will insult those who agree with PAP policies even though they never voted for them calling them PAPPY DOGS , die you PAP scum. Seriously grow up guys. We disagree because we love our country and our fellow singaporeans. Just don’t blindly disagree because of a political party. PAP runs Singapore but they don’t own Singapore. Until the opposition and opposition supporters grow up and mature, I am voting the PAP. Scary to let the country run by these clowns .

Some of us know that they are supposed to feel sad at the passing of MM Lee.

In any event, now that MM Lee is dead, can you return our parents’ CPF monies to them, that your father has coerced them to “contribute” over the years when your father was alive?

We know it’s a fact that a significant portion of our CPF monies have been lost in wasted investment through you and Ho Ching via Temasek Holdings. But we will be thankful if you still can return whatever is left back to us.

We promise not to apply for summary judgement against your family in the abovementioned extortion, as well as other atrocities your family has enacted upon your fellow Singaporeans, including acts through Internal Security Department. It is now common knowledge that you jailed a lady from our pioneer generation, before she has an opportunity to step into her election-won Havelock zone then, without trial for 6 years. Is that how you intend to celebrate SG50 too?

We’ll leave your family’s reputation and judgement to the international civilized community, who is not under any vested interest to or threat under your shriveling political reach, which has now decomposed further with Mm Lee’s death.

Return CPF to our pioneer generations in this year of SG50. Save all your rhetorical Machiavellian policies propagated through your state-controlled media, to spare further local and international squirming embarassment to Singaporeans, if not for yourself, please.

Afterall, it is the living who needs and can spend money, not the dead.

If you are willing to return all our CPF money back to us who have reached 65 (don’t push back the age again), we’ll burn your father some hell money. Deal?

Roy you said “we would like to bring your attention to a petition, started by a Singaporean Christian. It says: “As ugly as Amos Yee’s words were, we forgive because Jesus loved us despite our own fallen spiritual state.”

When a person forgives another person, it must be that person has committed a offense. So question is whether Amos has state something that is offensive and so there need to be forgiveness by A Christian counselor. Another principle is that the offense has to be acknowledge and a apology offered.
So question is — is there an offense here.
If there is an offense, then we said oh he is only a child or Christian ought to forgives because Jesus forgives us.
Otherwise we said there is no offense.

Conclusion : Amos has committed an offense from your statement because he needs to be forgiven.

In Jabar bin Kadermastan v. Public Prosecutor (1995), CJ Yong ruled that: “Any law which provides for the deprivation of a person’s life or personal liberty, is valid and binding so long as it is validly passed by Parliament. The Court is not concerned with whether it is also fair, just and reasonable as well.”

Concurring with this judgement, the High Court noted in Chee Siok Chin v. Minister for Home Affairs (2005) that the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression in Articles 14(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution can be restricted by laws passed by Parliament. Article 14(2) includes a provision that Parliament may impose on the rights in Article 14(1) “such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient” for various public interests.

Protected? The rights afforded by the Constitution are not absolute – they are also subject to restrictions.

we agreed with Xmen,
R , PM put you full time her point at the people committed offences, what about your offences ?
compare LKY did a lot of an illegal act., Amos just said something, who is the true offenses.

This is admitted by Goh Chok Tong himself recently. Many years back, LKY has already warned him not to open the flood gates, but overwhelmed with greed, he opened it. Social problems have already arrived and more will come in time to come. Someone will foot the bill. Singaporeans are not going to foot this bill. PAP will.

When LKY asked for his house to be demolished after his death, he did not literally mean his physical house only. He meant PAP, the team that he has founded and built. During his last days, he witnessed the incapability of the current PAP team. He saw with disappointment the repeated breakdown of the public transport system and how useless it was for the Minister Lui Tuck Yew to fix the problem. He saw and knew how inferior and incapable his son was in managing the country as compared to him himself. He chose to die early than for him to see his empire – the house that he spent his entire life building- ruin to shackles. As a father, he did not reveal his thoughts publicly so as not to cause his son embarrassment and political votes.

Don’t waste anymore of your resources in supporting the currently PAP. Instead, prepare yourself mentally for the inevitable change that is about to come- in a matter of time- a time that LKY himself has predicted. A change in government. A new Singapore. A new home for Singaporeans.

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